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28Jul/08N/A4

Change the World

It Floats
I wouldn't call myself a PR or marketing guru, but since starting my new life as EIR at Rose Tech Ventures, it's the skill-set our portfolio companies and friends have called me in for more than anything else.

"Nate, you're the marketing guru..." they say (am I? I ask)... "how should we handle our next product/feature/point launch?" or "Nate, you seem to know how to get press, how do we get the attention of the press?"

Until recently, I never had a standard answer for those question. However, after working through this question several times, I've already discovered a "Midas Question," which elicits the most useful set of responses:

"How," I ask, "does your new product/feature/update/company change the world?"

Change the world? Yup.

When asked such a weighty question, it's incredible how quickly all the other marketing crap people think up melts away.

The effect seems to be two-fold:

  • People stop thinking/talking about incremental improvements ("This is [slightly] better than other things.")
  • People are forced to identify the paradigm-shifting aspect of their business ("If we succeed ordinary people will be able to publish in a way that competes with the NY Times.")

So, next time you're stuck thinking about how you're going to get some buzz around your product, step back and ask yourself how you're going to change the world.

About Nate Westheimer

Nate is the Co-Founder and VP Product of AnyClip. He is also the Organizer of the 10,000 member NY Tech Meetup.
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  • Nate,

    This is a great question to ask yourself when starting a business and its so forward thinking that it really forces the right thinking process.

    As a corollary to this, entrepreneurs also need to ask themselves from the customer perspective: What's in it for me?

    If you haven't thought about why the customer would even care about this product that is going to change the world, then can you ever sell it? Will anyone ever adopt it? Have you implemented it correctly? Is there even a reason to pick up the product. Is there an alternative that is not as world-changing - but 40x easier to use/implement.

    Mark
  • Good point about customer need. If fulfilling a customer need can
    change the world: Money :-)
  • aliceyoo
    I like the way you think. We need to start asking bigger questions - thinking about small changes, micro-interactions (like David Armano talks about). Instead of focusing on marketing first, we should focus on content and making a difference.
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Who is Nate?

You've found Nate Westheimer's blog. Nate wears many hats. He's the EVP Product & Technology and Co-founder of AnyClip, the Organizer of the NY Tech Meetup, and Advisor to Flybridge Capital Partners. More about Nate can be read on his Bio page and you can follow his thoughts on Twitter

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